South Korea’s finance minister said Saturday that it would “do more harm than good” for the government to intervene in the foreign currency market.
Hyun Oh-seok, who concurrently serves as deputy prime minister in charge of the economy, made the remarks during a parliamentary committee meeting.
“I think that it would do more harm than good for the government directly to intervene in (the movement of) foreign exchange rates in terms of market stability and trust,” he said.
His remarks were in response to a lawmaker’s suggestion that the government take action to stabilize foreign exchange rates in the face of the Japanese yen’s continued descent.
The minister still admitted to negative impact of the weakening yen on the overall Korean economy, which has to compete with Japanese companies in many areas on global stage.
“Since exports make up more than 45 percent of our economy, some export items, which have to compete with Japanese products, could lose their price competitiveness,” he said. (Yonhap News)
